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Jivka Marinova from Bulgaria is Founder of the NGO Gender Education, Research and Technologies (GERT) based in Sofia. With a Master's degree in Computer Engineering she has been working for 15 years in the field of information analysis and communications. She joined civil society in 1998 and founded GERT in 2004. Her work focuses mainly on awareness raising on inequalities faced by women and children, including violence, trafficking and sexual exploitation, as well as the digital divide, economic discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity and age. She is the author of the national midterm MDGs report on Goal 3, published in 2008 and member of the international women's networks KARAT, ASTRA, APC/WNSP and WIDE.
Self-empowerment in Bulgaria
I grew up in Bulgaria in the 1960s and 1970s in a society that proclaimed egalitarian policy and as a child I never felt discriminated against because I was a girl. But entering the adult life despite the egalitarian policy I hit a wall, not a ceiling, but a wall of things that I was not supposed to do because I was a (married) woman. That is why I believe not so much in policy but in a human environment that empowers: a circle of friends, colleagues and young people who trust you and who make you feel that you do the right things and you are important for them.
I also believe in self-empowerment that is rooted in the opportunities provided by the society at large. The strongest example is education. I received a good education that helped me to survive the changes in the post-1989 environment. Through education I was able to use my knowledge and skills to overcome difficult circumstances and to become a strong and independent person capable to provide for myself and my children sometimes with the support and too often against the will of my husband.
At the national level in Bulgaria there are many examples of empowered women. These are women who dared to start...